1. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

2. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• Samuel Taylor
Coleridge
• 1798
• The consequences of sin
• Guilt
• The horror of isolation

3. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• Lyrical Ballad
• Ballad – narrative poem
• Intense descriptions
• Emotional Force
• Rhyming

4. Part 1
• The wedding guest is under the “spell” of The
Mariner’s “glittering eye”
• The Albatross is a spiritual symbol – God and
nature – white bird like a dove (Holy Spirit)
• Romantics believed God and nature were one
• Verses 41-44 - “Storm…tyrannous and strong”
– personification
• “wings…chased us” - metaphor

5. Part I continued
• Verse 81 – “Why look’st thou so? – tone
change
• The Mariner kills the good bird with his cross
bow

6. Part 2
• The shipmates blame the Mariner for killing the
Albatross then take it back – they become
accomplices to the killing
• Verses 103-106 – “furrow, followed free” –
Alliteration
• The shipmates blame the Mariner for killing the
Albatross – they believe that killing the bird has
caused them to be stranded and evil around
them
• “Instead of the cross” hang Albatross around his
neck – symbolism – sin and guilt

7. Part 3
• “Death Ship” – metaphor
• Verses 190 – 194 - “Her lips were red…”
personification of death – a woman
• Verses 195 – 198 - Game of dice “I’ve won” game
of “chance” – fate/life
• Darkness = death
• Verse 215 – “cursed me with his eye” –
symbolism
• Souls passed him like his “crossbow” – how he
killed the Albatross

8. Part 4
• Verses 232 – 235 – “Alone, alone, all alone…”
– repetition – he is isolated
• “My heart as dry as dust” – he is alive but his
soul is dead– symbolism
• Although the men are dead they curse him
with their eyes (souls)
• “Seven days, seven nights…” – biblical number
• Verse 263 – “The moving Moon…” –
alliteration also brings a change in tone

9. Part 4
• Verses 263 – 287
• “Softly she was going up…”
• “…beams bemocked…”
• “…the water snakes… shining white… elfish light”
• “I watched their rich attire:/Blue, glossy green
and velvet black….flash of golden fire”
• The beauty of nature has saved him, he can pray
and is alive
• The Albatross falls off – his guilt/sin is released
into the sea

10. Part 5
• Mary – Holy Mother – brings sleep and rain
• Rain – water = rebirth – symbolism
• Mariner dies in his sleep and comes back a
blessed ghost
• The dead rise and steer the ship without any
wind
• They are angels – “angels song”
• “dawned…dropped” “Sweet sounds” - alliteration

11. Part 5
• The Polar Spirit carries the ship as the angels
command but he still wants vengeance
• The Polar Spirit takes the ship to the line. He
and his demons shake the ship. The Mariner
is struck and is unconscious.
• The Mariner’s penance is not over

12. Part 6
• When the Mariner is in a trance the ship
moves with super natural power
• When he is awake serves his penance and the
dead men continue to curse him
• Verse 446 – “…on a lonesome road…” –
symbolism – life , isolation
• Verse 472 “… clear as glass…” – simile –
change in tone – light images
• Angels are light

13. Part 7
• The Hermit – hermits live in the woods away from
people
• He Hermit encourages the pilot to push forward and
rescue the Mariner
• The appearance of the Mariner – “The Devil knows
how to row.”
• Mariner asks Hermit to shrieve ( hear penance, absolve
someone’s sins)- transforms him into a priest
• Once he tells his story (sin) he is free
• His penance is to retell his story